In a hard disk drive (HDD), which is an example of a disk drive, a magnetic-recording head held by an actuator is positioned to a given track on a spinning magnetic-recording disk to read and write data. On the magnetic-recording disk, a data area where data are to be recorded is defined. At the shut-down of the HDD in a given utilization period, the magnetic-recording head is moved to a predetermined stand-by position outside the data area by the actuator, and is retained at the stand-by position during non-operation of the HDD to protect data on the data area.
If an HDD receives any impact from an external force during non-operation, the actuator may pivot by the impact so that the magnetic-recording head may return to the data area. At this time, the magnetic-recording head may destroy data. Therefore, HDDs have latch mechanisms for locking actuators to retain the actuators outside the data area, as is known in the art. Moreover, as representative latch mechanisms, magnetic latches and mechanical latches are known in the art.
Engineers and scientists engaged in HDD manufacturing and development are interested in the design of HDDs that employ latch mechanisms to preserve data integrity on the magnetic-recording disk to meet the rising demands of the marketplace for increased performance, and reliability.